- By Alex David
- Sun, 02 Nov 2025 07:10 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Samsung is gearing up to reveal their 2026 flagship cycle soon, according to Money Today reports. They plan an Unpacked event on February 25th 2026 in San Francisco for their Galaxy S26. No official word from Samsung yet but industry sources cited in Money Today have confirmed internal preparation has already started for it. The decision to return to San Francisco is interesting for one core reason: this era of Samsung flagships is being branded as AI-first. And San Francisco is now global ground zero for AI — the ecosystem, the startups, the labs, and the investors.
Galaxy S26 to launch in San Francisco
If the February 25 date holds, this becomes Samsung’s first San Francisco Unpacked since the Galaxy S23 series in 2023.
Sources cited told Money Today that San Francisco fits Samsung’s current narrative: the shift into AI smartphones and on-device intelligence — not just hardware upgrades.
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Slight delay from Samsung’s normal schedule
Samsung usually launches the S-series between late January and first week of February.
Example timelines:
- Galaxy S25 → announced Jan 22, 2025
- Galaxy S24 → mid-January 2024
- Galaxy S23 → early Feb 2023
A February 25, 2026 launch means the S26 lineup is landing later than usual—aligning with previous leaks of internal lineup reshuffling.
Samsung reportedly debated a lineup shakeup
For months, reports claimed Samsung was considering:
- Killing the base model for a new “Pro” variant
- Replacing the Plus model with an “Edge” model
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But apparently Samsung is now sticking to the classic three:
- Galaxy S26
- Galaxy S26+
- Galaxy S26 Ultra
This suggests Samsung either wasn’t convinced by the Edge experiment or decided not to disrupt a lineup that’s easy for buyers to understand.
Bottom line
The S26 series is trending toward a late February launch, with the global AI capital as the stage. The message is obvious: Samsung wants to frame the S26 not just as another yearly phone — but as the next major step in the AI smartphone evolution.